Inside Their Creative Oasis

We’re honored to welcome another maker onto the Sabah Market as part of our second installation of our 'By Hand & By Name' series, where we have curated unique pieces from around the world, mostly made-to-order just for the Sabah Market. These are items we discovered on our travels and through our network, that we’ve come to love -- unique apparel pieces, accessories and home goods that you won’t find just anywhere else. Our next maker, is KARDO.

KARDO, launched in 2013, creates one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by traditional tailoring and workwear. They follow a ‘ONExONE’ production philosophy in which each piece of clothing is hand-cut and sewn by a single tailor from beginning to end — each item carefully hand-finished. Thoughtfully designed and produced at the KARDO workshop in New Delhi, India, each garment is labeled with information about the makers involved in its production. KARDO honors traditional weaving, dying and printing techniques, using fabrics such as natural indigo denim and processes like block printing and Chikankari embroidery. KARDO actively supports and collaborates with handloom weaving communities throughout India in hopes of preserving these traditional techniques and reducing environmental impact.

In thinking about how to introduce KARDO, Cassandra Mayela and Basie Allen came to mind. Cassandra is a textile artist from Venezuela and a good friend of Ari (from the Sabah team). She recently held her first exhibition in Lower Manhattan where she displayed her latest sculpture, ‘Maps of Displacement: NY’ made of New York-based Venezuelan immigrants’ clothing that she’s collected, cut and weaved into a tapestry that explores the Venezuelan displacement crisis. Basie Allen is a visual artist and poet with his first book coming out in February. They both practice film photography and live and work in Brooklyn, New York, where they’ve built a shared studio in the back of their Bushwick apartment.

We visited the couple at their creative oasis to catch up on their recent work over Cassandra’s famous Lentil Dahl Soup and kept them company as they captured each other on film wearing our favorite pieces from KARDO including the KARDO Paris Work Jacket and KARDO Rodney Corduroy Shirt.

KARDO is now available on the Sabah Portal. We hope you enjoy this visual diary of our day.